


A court of Shadows and Moonlight

by Caiwan02



Series: The Moonlight Series [1]
Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Assassin - Freeform, Betrayal, Bonding, Brotherly Love, F/M, Fate, Mates, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 00:14:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29287398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caiwan02/pseuds/Caiwan02
Summary: When Celeste Ortiz is sent by The King of Hybern to assassinate The High Lord of the Night Court and his mate, she sees it as just a regular mission.However, the fact Azriel, The Night Court’s Shadowsinger, is her mate may complicate things...Soon Celeste has to make a choice. Carry out the mission for her King, or betray him?
Relationships: Azriel (ACoTaR)/Original Character(s), Azriel (ACoTaR)/Original Female Character(s), Feyre Archeron/Rhysand, Nesta Archeron/Cassian
Series: The Moonlight Series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2150847
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	1. Chapter 1

HYBERN 

Celeste Ortiz's feet ached with every small step as she strode towards the large oak doors of the throne room.   
The marble floor beneath her feet seemed to swirl, her vision blurred. Every breath she took scorched her throat and as she staggered through the opening doors, she wanted nothing more than to collapse on her knees but she wouldn't, couldn't let herself.   
Months, it had been months since The King of Hybern's men and dumped her in the middle of the mountainous plains of Hybern. He'd ordered her to bring him back a Crystal from the peak, it took her weeks to find it.   
After staggering over the craggy summits and avoiding the many dark faerie creatures that lurked in the shadows, she wanted nothing more than to collapse.   
Even weeks later, her dreams were still plagued with their ravenous faces, their jaws dripping with saliva and blood. She'd recalled stepping over the strewn body parts of humans and fae alike, vomiting over their corpses as she stumbled across the rocks. 

Celeste put a mud soaked, trembling hand on the hilt of her sword tucked by her left hip. She could have sworn the gem at the very top was burning, her hand growing sweaty as her fingers glided over it. She shuddered, the burning heat of Summer kissing her skin through the stain glass windows. Perhaps, it was just the sun warming it's hilt.   
Her tongue was dry, her throat burning for even a drop of water. It hadn't rained the entire time she'd been wandering, the mountains barren of rivers and streams. She wasn't quite sure how she survived, it seemed impossible but she thought perhaps it was her High Fae blood that kept her tethered to this world.   
A part of her, for as long as she remembered, just wanted to fall into the eternal abyss of death.   
At least then she'd finally find peace. 

The King grinned at her from his golden throne, flashing his elongated canines at her. His crown was tilted slightly on his head, one hand rested on his cheek and the other on his lap. He leaned forward to look at her, his muscles flexing under his shirt as he did so.   
Celeste unslung her soaked pack, throwing it to the floor, her shoulders immediately relieved from the suffocating weight. She pulled open the canvas flap and threw the glittering crystal at his feet, glaring into his dark, almost black eyes. It was the size of her fist and as the King picked it up, he scrutinised it with a raised eyebrow.   
She couldn't even bare to think of the innocent creatures she had to kill, the snaps of its necks echoing in her mind, just to get that damned thing. 

Her cheeks grew hot as he nodded and cast it aside, flinging it across the room. The echo of it slamming against the marble floor was the only sound in the silent room, not even the sounds of the guards breathing was picked up by her heightened hearing.  
Her breath hitched in her throat as she scanned the King's unreadable face.   
She stiffened as he leaned forward, his grin widening. "You look starved." He commented, scanning her thin form, her once well fitting shirt was more like a ragged dress now. 

She didn't reply, still glaring into his eyes. It wasn't until he'd pointed it out that she actually felt the hunger gnawing at her. It was torture and he smiled as he heard her stomach growl. He turned to one of the guards flanking him and waved his hand slightly. Mechanically, the guard reached into a basket by his side and threw her a small morsel of what looked like meat of some kind.   
She could smell it from where she was stood, her nose wrinkling in disgust. She wanted to turn away, refuse the shrivelled portion at her feet but the stabbing starvation she felt in her chest reminded her that if she didn't take it, she'd surely die.   
Maybe I should let myself. She found herself thinking but as she remembered her mother's face, the tears streaking down her cheek as she sacrificed herself to save her.   
She couldn't let it go to waste. 

Her eyes not leaving his, she leant down and shoved the leathery morsel in her mouth. She licked her fingers clean of the jerky, dirt and all, savouring every chew and every ounce of the vile flavour she could. If this was all she was getting every day, she surely wouldn't last long.   
If she had to resort to hunting then so be it. She winced as she remembered the pitiful whines of the animals she cut down to get the crystal, he just threw to one side. The thought of doing that again, bashing skulls of animals to them devour them made her feel sick. Yet she was desperate.  
Perhaps she did have the blood of her father in her, despite her and her mother's desperation to prevent it throughout her upbringing.   
No- she mustn't think of him. Even an ounce of her thoughts to be consumed by him did her mother an injustice.  
She would never forget the screams of her mother as he beat her bloody, why they'd escaped his clutches in the first place. 

Celeste shoved the thoughts away, concentrating solely on the grinning face of the tyrant before her. "I hear you come from Prythian."   
She nodded.  
"A pitiful place." He scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Aramantha holding that place for fifty years just shows how weak their so called high lords are."   
She nodded again. It felt like her body wasn't her own as she nodded to everything he said. She couldn't even hear what he was saying as her body nodded along.   
The King raised an eyebrow and Celeste stiffened, realising he had asked her a question. "Sorry?" She asked, her voice breaking slightly after months of silence.   
The King smiled sickeningly at her, Celeste's blood chilling. "I have a job for you." 

Her heartbeat quickened, her hands clammy. That goddamned sentence always made her breath quicken. His jobs normally required her to kill someone, or he gave her an impossible task which she barely made out of alive. She looked up at him from her feet, his wide grin unsettling her. The way his eyes sparkled and how his grin turned to a smirk she realised this wasn't going to be like the others. 

Nodding, she reached for her blade and lay it at his feet. Since she'd come here at the young age of seventeen, it had been what she was taught. Now she was 500 years old and for most of her life she had been trapped here.   
"My blade is yours your highness." She muttered, her eyes not leaving the floor. 

"Good." He simpered, Celeste rising to her feet. "I want you to dispose of someone for me, it is a matter of great importance. If you should succeed you shall be free."   
Free. She'd been dreaming of that since she'd been dumped here. Whenever she looked at the sky on a mission, seeing the flocks of birds in flight she dreamed what it would have been like. Until now that's all it had been, a dream.   
Yet now it wasn't just a dream, she finally had a chance to be free, to actually live.   
Seeing her eyes widen and her lips twitching into a smile he looked triumphant from his throne above her. 

"I want you to kill the High Lord of the Night Court and his mate." 

Celeste tensed, her knees near shaking as she stood up onto her feet. She'd heard of the High Lord of Night, he was known for his cruelty, rumour had it he'd tortured imposters in his court for centuries before giving them the sweet relief of death. His wife was supposedly even worse.   
Yet she was in no position to say no, she needed that freedom, god knows she'd earned it.   
It was then Celeste did something that changed her life forever, she said yes. 

The King nodded in satisfaction as Celeste cut her palm with the hilt of her sword. "My blood is yours to shed." She vowed, her eyes fixated on the drops of her blood that stained the otherwise pristine white floor:   
As he turned away to speak to his Captain of the Guard, Celeste turned and strode confidently out of the room, refusing to allow herself to collapse to the floor as her body so desperately wanted to.

As the doors opened and she strode through the crack, she couldn't help but feel a pair of eyes on her.


	2. I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Please be kind! Hope you all like it!

Celeste had managed to sleep through the entire night, an unbroken slumber was rare for her. Ever since she was a girl, rest did not come easy. Every slight noise awoke her and although frustrating, was perhaps the only reason she was alive. To sleep soundly in Hybern was suicide.   
Her limbs ached as she sat herself up in bed, her eyes stinging. She felt like crap. Half asleep, she raked her fingers through her matted copper hair, groaning as she saw the frizzy strands fall in front of her face. She probably looked like crap.  
Staggering over to the rusty mirror opposite her bed, she groaned at the sight of her face. She looked half dead. Her face was pale, almost skeletal, her cheeks hollowed and skin sagged and cracked.   
In an effort to cover such weakness, she caked her face in powder, attacking every blemish and protruding vein with the stuff. In a way it was humiliating, makeup was for vain humans but she couldn't risk her enemies seeing her so vulnerable. Vulnerability was death.

Flinging open a drawer, she pulled out a map, gripping the vanity table for support as her eyes scanned the map of Prythian. The King knew her feelings towards the place, yet sent her there all the same. It was a test, it had to be. To see if she was worth keeping alive.   
She'd seen what had happened to the King's last assassin. Petro was his name and Celeste remembered him well. He had short, blonde hair, a slim yet muscly physique and could flash a smile that made even the most stone cold person swoon over him.   
They'd often found comfort in each others physical presence before he was killed. The two would sneak into each others quarters and ravish each other's bodies, until they were a gasping, sweaty heap under the covers. They'd had no emotional attachment, only friendship but it didn't hurt any less when the King of Hybern left his head on a spike outside her window for the world to see. She knew he'd done that to taunt her, to break her but she refused to be broken. She didn't even know what Petro did to deserve it. 

Celeste brushed the tip of her index finger over the Night Court. She'd not been there in so long, not since a child, she remembered barely anything of the damned place. Her finger landed on the court of nightmares and her breath hitched in her throat. The Court of Nightmares was from what she faintly remembered, the foulest court in Prythian.   
She couldn't help but remember it. The dampness of the cavelike halls, the screams that echoed the place from the dungeons, it made her feel dizzy. Yet she had no choice. She had to go down there and kill the High Lord and his Lady, to survive.   
As she scanned her eyes around the coastline, she realised there was no easy entrance in. In fact, it seemed almost impossible for anyone to just sneak in. Sighing, she grabbed the map into a bundle in her hands and not caring about her see through night dress, she strode into the King's court.

The King's eyes scanned her in deep interest as she strode in. He took every inch of her body in hungrily, his eyes sparkling like she was his next meal. It made her feel sick. "You look just like your mother." He grinned, once again flashing his canines. Celeste refrained from snarling and bowed her head, thankful for her copper hair covering her face. He always liked to remind her of her mother, the bastard.   
She lay the map on the table in the centre of the room, picking a dagger from the side and stabbing it into the heart of the Night Court.   
"I need a way in." She stated, her heart racing as the king rose from his seat and glided over.  
Scanning the map himself he nodded wisely, before turning to a guard. "Send for the Captain." He commanded, the guard rushing off. 

Her breath hitched in her throat, her palms sweaty as she watched the guard stride out the door. She'd forgotten about the Captain. He'd been pursuing her for centuries, it was only a matter of time before he didn't take 'no' for an answer.   
She'd seen him pounce on the servant girls like an Attor hunting a bunny. They'd always end up going missing and the whole castle knew what happened to them, yet nobody said anything.  
She flinched as the doors opened and she heard his heavy set steps echoing on the marble floor towards her. Stiffening, his breath fanned her neck as he brushed past her body.   
"Your Highness." He greeted the king, standing beside Celeste, so close she felt his body heat. "What seems to be the problem?" He asked, flashing his canines at her.  
She slid a hand over towards The Night Court, tapping the entrance to the Court of Nightmares with the tip of her nail. "I need to get into this Court, without being detected." She stated, the Captain grazing her hand with his own rough fingers. 

Leaning over, his closeness making her feel dizzy, not in a good way. "Why don't you access through here?" He asked, Celeste's chest tightening as she shuffled away from him. She followed his finger down to the Spring Court, her eyebrows furrowing. She tilted her head and shook her head.   
"The Spring Court? There's no way they'd let us slip in through there."   
The King's gaze shifted to the Captain, him only moving away from her because the king mutely willed it so.   
"Don't be so sure. Young Tamlin will do anything for his love, who also happens to be The High Lord of the Night Court's mate. Luckily for us."   
The King's eyes danced as she raised an eyebrow- her eyes lingering on the forest surrounding the infamous wall. The wall that the King of Hybern made his mission to tear down. "I thought I was going to kill her."   
The King rolled his eyes, the two men flanking her grinning to each other. "You're not very creative are you darling Celeste?" The Captain mocked, his fist gripping the hilt of the dagger sticking out of the Night Court.   
Gently, he scraped the blade down her inner arm, Celeste wincing at the touch of the cool metal against her sweating skin. "You promise Tamlin to bring Feyre back to him. You use him as a sort of cover to access the High Lord and then you kill all three of them. Easy." 

She scoffed, snatching the dagger from The Captain, who was pointing it at her unnervingly and slammed it aggressively into the oak table. "Easy." She gritted out. "But what of the so called Amren? Rumour has it she can crush an enemy just by thinking about it."  
She noticed the Captain tense slightly, covering his fear with a grin. 

The Captain laughed, like a hyena laughs at its latest victim and clasped his hand on her shoulder with vice like grip. "Do not worry darling. I'm sure you'll work it out" He purred, Celeste wincing as his nails dug into her bare skin. "You will succeed because you know what will happen if you don't."  
She nodded mutely, looking into the King's narrowed eyes. "Your Highness, I'll bring them their heads on a platter. You have my word." 

The Captain released her from his grip and she could have sworn she saw blood coating the tips of his claws. Hesitantly, she reached out and rubbed the fleshy part of her neck, the tips of her fingers being coated with her crimson blood. Asshole. She thought to herself, as she maintained her stony expression.   
The King smirked at her, his eyes staring, unwaveringly into her eyes. Looking up to meet his black eyes, she winced as she felt a wave of pain in the pit of her stomach. Refusing to show her discomfort, she maintained eye contact and forced herself to smile at him.   
The King's smile falted slightly and she winced as the pain grew, spreading through her body like a wildfire. It was soon unbearable, her throat burning with every breath she took. "Stop." She muttered, barely a whisper as the pain reached her head.   
Her vision blurred, the pain increasing and she soon found herself panting on the floor. 

She looked up to the King with tears streaming down her face, the smile on her captors face showing his pleasure in her overbearing, intolerable pain. "Please!" She found herself screaming, her throat scorching as she let the wail tumble out of her lips. Her head collided with the floor as she writhed on the ground, blood oozing from the wound. She could feel it spreading on the cold marble floor, a trickle coming from her lips and descending down her pale white face.   
As her vision grew spotted, like a snowstorm, she reached out desperately, her screaming no longer leaving her lips despite her trying. Soon she was silent, the last thing she saw was the King stepping over her limp body. 

"Don't fail me, for this is only a drop of what I can do with you. You have six months. If I see them alive, you'll be begging for the sweet relief of death when I am done with you. You will know nothing of immortality."


End file.
